Blood on the Water
by Shaggelmalove
Summary: My first story like this ever, but basically I suck at summaries. Main pont of view will shift between Shaggy and the villian. Inspired greatly by 'An Evening with Mr. Yang,' from Psych.
1. Prologue

Blood on the Water

Prologue:

The blood on her hands was making her palms itch as it started to become tacky from being outside of the body for so long. She was breathing hard and the smile on her lips was wide as she straddled the waist of her latest victim, his blood still trickling slowly out of his chest and down his stomach, staining the pale skin of her legs and the cotton of her skirt and underwear. She didn't care for such trifle things though. She leaned forward and kissed the man's cheek before standing. Her hands and wrist were covered in splashes of blood and her hair was sticky with it as well. The inner sides of her legs were painted crimson from where she had been sitting and it covered her clothing in the dots and lines of scarlet Rorschach test. She tucked her hair behind her ear as it fell in front of her face, smearing the drying blood that rested on her cheek.

She went into the bathroom and turned the bath on, the steam of the hot water rising as it filled the tub. She stripped her clothes off and kicked them to the corner, humming as she did this. She turned the water off and slipped into the bath. The water began turning red as she washed herself with a bath sponge, still humming in lighthearted bliss as her victim remained in the hall of her home. She submerged herself completely in the water which by now was as dark crimson as the blood that still leaked from the man's body. When she emerged above the water again she lovingly lifted a finger to touch the snap-shot of the young man she'd just killed that was stuck to the wall above the tub. "You were so much fun too," she whispered in a sweet voice. She turned her attention to another picture just beside her victim's. "I'm sure my newest toys will be just as great." She lifted a finger to the picture of four teenagers with their dog. "So young, so new. Yes, you will be my greatest toys yet I am sure."

She rose out of the bath tub and pulled the plug out of the drain. She watched as the bloody water swirled down the drain in a mini-whirlpool of sorts. She pulled the towel from the rack and wrapped it around her wet body. When she out in the hall she still smiled as she stepped over his naked body. "Pardon me, Thomas," she laughed as she went to her bedroom and dressed herself. She tied her hair into a braid and pulled a cloak around her. "I'll have to clean the mess later," she told herself in a muse, "for now I have much better things to do, Thomas than deal with your silly old self."


	2. Chapter I

Blood on the Water

Chapter I:

Shaggy jumped the counter that separated the kitchen from the living room in Mystery Incorporated's headquarters. He walked over to sofa in the center of the room and sat down with his sandwich as his favorite television program returned from it's commercial break. Not long after had the door opened and Velma, Daphne, and Fred came in with groceries and a folder with their newest case files tucked inside. Shaggy turned the television off and gave the rest of his sandwich to Scooby as he got up to help unload the groceries from the van and into the kitchen. "Like, hey guys. Find everything you needed?" He asked as he took a bag of groceries from Velma.

"Everything but the batteries for the high-powered flashlights. The hardware store was out." Velma explained to him as she went with him into the kitchen to start putting things in their place while Fred and Daphne got more bags from the van. "On another note, though," she smiled at him when they got into the kitchen, "I can't wait until Friday night for the festival." Shaggy grinned and put his hands on her waist.

"Neither can I," he said softly as he leaned in and kissed her lips gently. Velma's cheeks flushed and when he pulled away he found his own getting warm as well. Daphne walked in through the door and they busied themselves quickly with putting groceries away. Daphne giggled and set the grocery bags she was carrying on the counter and began taking off her jacket. The snow had come early this year and her hair was still dotted with tiny white crystals that sparkled.

"You guys don't have to keep being all shy, you know." She told them as she took her gloves off and set them on the counter next to the bags. Shaggy and Velma both blushed and Daphne giggled again as she began setting groceries away in the cabinets. Fred came in a moment later and kissed Daphne on the cheek before slipping his own jacket off and helping them. Once everything was all put away they gathered in the living room and opened their new case file on the table.

"Now," Fred said as he spread the pictures and notes on the coffee table, "the chief says that our latest guy has managed to kill five other citizens this year alone. In the past he's killed a total of ten others. Each of them were depressed at the time." The rest nodded as Fred put the pictures of the people before they were murdered side by side.

"They all look so young..." Daphne said as she touched the picture of the latest known victim. "He couldn't have been more than thirty..."

"He was killed last week," Freddie said sadly. He was going to continue when their phone rang and Shaggy got up to answer it.

"Mystery Incorporated, how may we, like, help you?" Shaggy's face got serious and then he hung up not long afterward. He turned to the gang. "The chief says she'd like to see us at her office, that something just arrived for us."

"We were only there an hour ago," Fred said, confusion on his face.

"We'd better go, the chief isn't, like, a patient person." Shaggy said nervously. They nodded and piled into the van. Fred got them to the police station and they went straight to the chief's office. She beckoned them in and a manilla envelope sat on the desk in front of her. She motioned for them to close the door.

"Something just came for you at my office." She said in a stern voice. "This envelope has not been touched since it got back from forensics and was cleared."

"Who sent it?" Velma asked.

"I believe it was sent by a man only known as 'The Harlequin,' the most notorious murderer in Coolsville. I believe he is calling you out." They all nodded. "Whatever is in this envelope, it's going to ask you to do the same thing it always asks. It's going to ask you to play a game. Before I let you open it and decide, I want you to remember that no one has ever seen this man and every time you fail to do a challenge of his correctly, one of your friends or family will die. It could even be someone you met for just a moment, it could even be one of you. From the moment you open this envelope, he will know everything about you." They all hesitated a moment. Fred was about to speak but the chief held up her hand. "He already has his first victim ready if you refuse to play. He'll kill them if you don't." This made them all stop. Fred closed his mouth. "Now you don't have to decide now, but the second you open the envelope it'll all begin. Good luck detectives." The chief stood and left the office to the gang.

"He already has someone..." Shaggy muttered.

"Rand he'll krill him, Raggy!" Scooby trembled.

"We can't an innocent person die..." Fred said in a soft voice as he stared at the envelope.

"I agree with Fred," Velma spoke up, "we gotta try." They all nodded, albeit reluctantly. Fred picked the envelope up carefully and tried to keep himself from dropping it when he saw the twisted smiling drawing of a clown on the seal. He opened it carefully and tipped out the contents. A letter fell to the chiefs desk with a photograph. Fred picked up the letter and read it aloud:

_'Mystery Incorporated,_

_Oh, how I love playing games. They're so much fun, especially when there are stakes to pay when things don't go someone's way. Do you like games? I do hope so, because I have one all set up just for you. Don't worry, Scooby can join in the fun too. The game I set up will start with my clue for you; ech clue, by the way will be specifically for a certain member of your group, in this case it's for all of you. If you can figure out where that picture was taken, I'll leave a little gift for you there. If you don't find it in time, well I'm afraid Ms. Wilson is going to have to die. Such a pity, she is such a nice looking girl._

_- Harley_

_P.S. Every time you fail my challenges, one of you will die as penalty for your faulty play. Everytime you win, one of your relatives or friends will go missing and you will only get them back once you defeat the game. Aren't stakes just the most fun of the game?'_

"One of us will die?" Daphne repeated aloud.

"There's something else in here," Fred said as he shook the envelope. A tiny slip of paper fell out and he picked it up and read it out. "P.P.S., shame on me for not mentioning, but you only have one hour to complete each challenge and the clock is already ticking."

"How does he know we opened it?" Shaggy asked nervously, but no one answered him. Instead Velma picked up the photograph from the chief's desk and examined it closely. It showed the bottom edge of a house, it was made of wood and the grass was covered with dying leaves. A black shoe edge could be seen in the corner.

"That could be anywhere," Daphne pointed out.

"But it's supposed to be somewhere we know." Velma reminded her.

"I got it!" Fred shouted. He took the picture and held it up to the light. "It's the headquarters from when we were kids. That shoe was from when Red Herring through it at me up in the tree house. Those leaves are still on the tree, not the ground!"

"Are you sure, Fred?" Shaggy asked as he looked over his friend's shoulder at the picture.

"Surer than I've ever been, now come on. We're killing time." They nodded and raced out to their van and onto the highway, heading straight for the woods.


	3. Chapter II

Blood on the Water

Chapter II:

They screeched to a halt in front of the old tree house. They jumped out the van and Fred was the first to reach the ladder and he climbed up. The first thing he saw when he got to the deck was a lone shoe hanging from the boughs by it's shoe lace; a woman's shoe. An envelope was attached to it and he leaned out to grab it. When he looked at it, it had a seal just like the previous envelope. He clambered back down the ladder and opened the envelope. Inside was a stopwatch and a picture of a woman. She was tied to a chair in a dark room, her head lolled to one side and her face covered in clown make up. Her right shoe was missing. He flipped the photograph over and saw a message written on the back. There were fifty minutes counting down on the stopwatch. It had started exactly when they'd left the police station.

"Mystery Incorporated, glad you could make it this far," Fred read out, "how has my little game been treating you? Without further ado, here is your next clue: you can't have your pie and eat it too. Who am I?"

"You can't have your pie and eat it too..." Velma said thoughtfully aloud to herself, "he wouldn't have included the picture if he didn't want us to make a connection to the girl."

"Can I see the picture?" Shaggy asked suddenly. Fred handed it to him and Shaggy looked at the girl closely. "Like, I think I recognize her. I think this clue was meant for me."

"The chief warned us he'd know everything about us, it makes sense that the clue with food in it involves Shaggy." Daphne agreed. She had wrapped her arms around her waist as a chilling wind blew over her. "Hurry Shaggy, this weather mixed with this mystery gives me the creeps."

"I think I know where I saw her," he said unsure of himself. "I think she was the waitress that served me my afternoon pie at Sal's. I don't remember if her name was Ms. Wilson, but I think that's her."

"He wants us to go somewhere," Velma reminded them, "do you think he wants us to go to the pie shop where she worked?"

"I don't know," Shaggy said, "this is the first clue I think I've ever had to, like, work out on my own. I don't want to, like, waste time being wrong."

"We can't waste time when we could be right either." Fred said. "Come on, Sal's is ten minutes from here, if we hurry we can get there in less." They all nodded and clambered back into the van. When they arrived at Sal's, they noticed the shop window had been vandalized with a eery drawing of the same clown on the envelopes. "Looks like you were right, Shag." Fred said as they tried to open the door. It was surprisingly unlocked. When they stepped in Shaggy immediately went to his normal table. On the seat of the chair was another envelope. He opened it quickly and another picture fell out. He flipped it over and read the back first.

"Like, 'Well done if you've managed to get this far. The first task is always the easiest, is it not? Tomorrow the games really begin. And remember, the game is only as fun as your follies make it. And don't worry, Ms. Wilson will be sleeping well then. Ta ta for now, - Harley.'"

Xx

She watched opened the door to her basement and walked down the stairs lightly. She pulled the cord hanging from the ceiling and the lights turned on. She walked over to the chair in the center of the room. In it sat a middle-aged woman around forty years old. Her mouth was taped shut with several layers of purple duct tape and her face had been smeared with clown make up. Her right shoe was missing and she was only just begging to stir after being knocked out for eight hours. She lifted her head slowly and saw the woman standing in front of her. She tried to stand but her legs were tied to the chair and her hands were tied to the back of it. She looked with fear in her eye at her captor who was humming Für Elise happily. 

"Little widow Carrie Wilson." The captor said in a sing song voice. "Not to worry, I won't kill you just yet. After all I like to play with my toys before I break them. It took me four months before I finally finished playing with Thomas." Ms. Wilson's eyes were screaming with fear and the captor merely cocked her head to the side. "You're tired, Ms. Wilson. Time for bed." The captor grabbed a medicinal needle from the counter beside her and a small bottle of liquid. She plunged the needle through the cover of the bottle and filled it with a strange clear liquid, continuing her humming as she did so. Ms. Wilson screamed into the duct tape as her captor came towards her with the needle. "Now just hold still, this won't hurt." The captor grabbed Ms. Wilson's wrist and injected the drug into her bloodstream, moments later and she knocked out again. "Nighty night." The captor smiled and continued her humming peacefully. 


	4. Chapter III

Blood on the Water

Chapter III:

That night Shaggy lay on the sofa in the library of Mystery Inc. Headquarters with his eyes wide-open as he was unable to sleep knowing there was someone out there who knew exactly what he was doing and when he was doing it. Next to him Scooby Doo lay curled up against his side, he was shaking slightly from the day's events and Shaggy was running his hand through the dog's fur to comfort him. On the chair by the fireside lay Fred with his arms crossed behind his head as he counted the bricks on the wall, not daring to sleep either. The girls were laying on the sofa opposite Shaggy together in a huddled closeness as they whispered to each other in the night. They all knew that tomorrow could mean a death or a kidnapping or even both, no one knew. It was obvious whoever was sending the messages had already planned out who they wanted to fail and who they wanted to take away from them as they went, so it went without saying that they were all staying together.

A few hours later the morning sun had begun to spill in through the windows of the library and everyone gave up on their efforts to sleep and got up from their various places. Daphne took Velma's hand and they went off to get dressed together. Fred and Shaggy did the same with Scooby Doo in tow and of course minus the hand holding. They gathered in the kitchen together to eat what they could stomach amongst the mess of their emotions and apprehension of what was to come. It was four in the morning and they had no idea when their next clue would arrive to them. In honesty it took about thirty minutes.

A knock had come on their door and both Fred and Daphne had gone to answer it. A box lay on their doorstep but absolutely no one was in sight. They brought the box into the living room and called the rest in. The box was fairly average sized with no writing or markings anywhere on it. Fred took out his pocket knife and cut the tape that was sealing it closed. He opened the lids and looked inside. The box held a baseball glove and ball, a piece of driftwood, a small rock and another note underneath them. He lifted the note out carefully and read it to the others aloud.

"Good morning, Mystery Incorporated. As I see it you did not follow my directions on a good night's sleep so your first clue has come early. Inside this box are items that belong to one of you. Whoever owns the items knows what they mean and will know where to find the directions for your first task. Remember, if you fail even one small task, I will kill any hostages I have and if you win, I'll raise the stakes and take another. The object of the game is to win, if you choose not to play, well then I'll just have to take matters into my own hands then. - Harley."

"Take matters into his own hands?" Daphne repeated. "What does that mean?"

"I don't know," Velma said as she looked into the box, "but right now we need to focus, there's still an innocent woman out there that needs us." The rest nodded and the box was passed around as each looked to see if the items were their own. When the box reached Fred he took the baseball glove out and examined it.

"I think this was mine from when I was nine... Dad gave it to me when I wanted to start baseball." He looked at the other contents. "That driftwood is probably from our beach cabin, we used to go there once a week every summer until he got sick..."

"What about the other items?" Daphne asked. "Do they mean anything?" Fred took the rock and the ball in his hands and examined them.

"My mother used to collect rocks when we went down to the beach, she liked how smooth the water made the rock's surface. I think we're meant to go to the cabin where my father used to take me."

"Like, let's go then!" Shaggy said as he grabbed the clue and they dashed out to the van. Fred stopped in his tracks when he saw it. A big, smiling clown drawn right over the logo on their van.

"Now you just don't do that to a guy's van..."

**AN: I know, a little short, but I have big plans, so don't worry :)**


	5. Chapter IV

Blood on the Water

Chapter IV:

Shaggy pulled the van door open, but nothing seemed out of place when they inspected it. The paint was fresh and still wet in some spots but no one was around and they didn't have time to waste. They got into the van and Fred took them out onto the highway. In the back Shaggy sat with his head against the side of the van. Velma turned in her seat and crawled into the back. She sat down next to Shaggy and took his hand in hers. He looked over at her and offered a tired smile. She rested her head on his shoulder and he lay his own over hers. When they arrived at the cabin, fifteen minutes had passed. Fred went up to it first, but nothing seemed to be out of place. In fact, the whole structure seemed to be as untouched as the last time he'd been there a little over four years ago. He took out his key and opened the door but nothing was moved on the inside either.

After ten minutes of searching nothing turned up. Fred shook his head and slammed his hands down on the table in frustration. "We're at the wrong place." He said through gritted teeth. "We've wasted almost half our time to find out what our first task is and it's all my fault."

"Freddie," Daphne said, putting a hand on his shoulder, "don't lose your head just yet. If we don't keep calm now we're not going to get very far."

"Daphne's correct," Velma chimed in, "he probably meant the clue to trip us up like it did. He did say that today would be harder. The clue could still have been meant for you, just not here." Fred nodded and they walked back outside and crawled back into the van.

"I have another cabin out in the woods. There's a lake out there and the driftwood could have come from there too and maybe the rock was from the lake. It's a twenty minute ride there so if we're going, it has to be a clear shot with no other options."

"Like, I don't think we have any other options, Fred." Shaggy said from the back of the van. Fred nodded and started the engine.

Xx

She watched them as they lay awake in their little library. She had figured they would be a little sleepless. She prepared the box and lay it on their doorstep. She'd had these objects for a long time, waited for the perfect time to use them in their proper ways. If only they'd known how long she'd been waiting for them. To play with them, to watch them, to be with them. They were finally hers and her story would be complete. Oh, yes. She set the alarm on the cell phone she'd bought to play in about an hour. It would sound exactly like a knock on the door. She shook up the can of spray paint and set to work on the van, drawing the face precisely and the twisted smile on it's lips.

When she got back to the basement of the house she watched her newest captive with interest. They had unknowingly solved the beginning task the day before and she'd taken her collateral. The girl was young, her sandy blond hair in a mess from having fallen asleep with it loose. She hadn't felt as the needle pierced her skin in her sleep and insured her captor she would sleep until they had gotten to the basement. The killer stood and walked over to the child, kneeling in front of her faint body. She lifted a hand to the child's freckled cheek and stroked it softly.

"Such a beautiful child..." She whispered as she continued to caress the girl's cheek. "Such a pretty, pretty girl." 


	6. Chapter V

Blood on the Water

Chapter V:

The gang pulled into the drive of the second cabin and immediately they saw something of interest. The front door was slung wide open. They ran inside and a note lay on the kitchen table. Fred picked it up immediately and read it out. "Congratulations on solving your first task, I've collected my prize as I said I would. Sorry this clue is at a loss for flair, it's terribly challenging to be creative when you have a child weighing you down with their constant crying. Don't worry, she's safe for now. Your second task is to obtain an object for me. Nothing too extravagant. Nothing too cheap either. You'll find it in the cemetery of the pines. - Harley."

"the cemetery of the pines?" Daphne said as Fred handed her the note. "Does he mean a forest?"

"Like, why would he send us to another forest if we're already in one?" Shaggy was shaking slightly as he spoke in anticipation of the day. "And besides, like, where are we gonna find a forest of dead trees?"

"We need to figure out who this note is for before we do anything." Fred grabbed the note back and read it out again to them. "We still have about fifty five minutes to solve it." Velma took the note from him and examined.

"A cemetery of the pines..." Her eyes lit suddenly. "This clue is for me!" She said suddenly. "There's a special bookstore down on Maine Street that sells books exclusively made from pine wood. The hardcovers, paper backs, paper everything is made of pine but the ink the words are printed with. If I remember correctly the store is called 'Pine Central.'"

"How far is it?"

"About twenty minutes from here, it's in the upper part of Coolsville because it's a little expensive." Fred nodded.

"I don't think there are any other options, so let's go." They went back out and Fred started the van. Velma sat up front and gave him directions while they drove and Daphne sat beside them. Shaggy and Scooby stayed in the back eating compulsively from a box of Scooby Snacks to ease their tension. When they pulled into the drive of the store, a squad car was already in the parking lot with the chief and two of her police detectives speaking to who must have been the manager or owner of the shop. The chief saw them and beckoned them over.

"There's been a break in at the store, here. The manager called us about an hour ago to investigate and we found this." The chief held out a book for them to see. The cover had a jester emblem engraved on the front. The book was titled _'The God's Way: Heaven, Purgatory, and Hell for the Non-Religious or Ill-informed.' _ The chief opened the first cover and a photograph of a small girl tied very similarly to a chair as Ms. Wilson had been. Her sandy colored hair was in a tangled mess and her mouth was duct taped shirt. A piece of twine was tied around her neck as a necklace and her light blue nightdress was splattered with what appeared to be blood. Her bright blue eyes were screaming for help. Shaggy's face went pale and he reached out to touch the photograph.

"That's Maggs..." He said slowly. "He took her..."

"Mr. Rogers, do you know our latest victim?" Shaggy nodded.

"She's my baby sister..." The chief nodded.

"From now on you will have a police escort and a detective team assigned to protect you. Now that he's targeting children we can't with good conscience allow you to take this case on your own. As code we are now involved as much as possible and a state wide Amber Alert is going to be placed out effective immediately. We'll need some information and pictures from you, Mr. Rogers." Shaggy nodded and followed a detective who beckoned him over for the information. "As for the rest of you, I'd like you to meet Officer Daniel Howard and Detective Karen Kavet." She motioned to the officer that was taking notes as the manager spoke to him and the female detective who was standing beside her. "Karen will be living with you with her partner while you are working on this case. She's there to help with clues and keep updates for the CPD. Howard will take guard duty over you at nights." They all nodded and Detective Kavet shook their hands.

She was a small woman at about five feet five inches tall and a thin waist, she had blond hair that was tied neatly up in a bun and bright blue eyes. The police officer was about six feet tall with shaggy brown hair to match Shaggy's own if he too had that hair color and a muscular fit to him. He flipped his notebook shut and came over to the chief with a confident stride but a dull look to his brown eyes. "Manager says nothing's missing and the only thing damaged was the book. The camera's were disabled but not damaged and no one saw the suspect. The only sign he broke in was the jester on the book. Apparently it hadn't been there the night before." The chief nodded.

"Tell him I'll assign a guard to his shop at nights until this all over and then you can return to your beat until you need to be at their office." Officer Howard nodded and returned to the manager. At the moment Shaggy returned with the other detective that had been talking to him. The detective was taller slightly than Officer Howard and his face was unreadable and as hard as his clear gray eyes. His black hair was peppered with white and he wore a starched suit.

"I got the details on the girl, Chief." He said in an almost aggressive tone. "Her name's Margerate Anne Rogers, twelve years old, goes to Coolsville Junior High. Parents were just notified, they were still asleep when the kid was taken. The perp was in and out in under five minutes and it could've happened anytime between midnight and four am this morning."

"Go send an officer to the Roger's house for condolences and make sure you get a guard on watch there. Notify the Dinkley's, the Jones's, and the Blake's as well. Make sure they're protected as well and then join your partner. I give fair warning to both of you, detectives, that now that you're with them twenty-four seven, it can make you just as much of a target, if not a part of the game. Is that clear?" They all nodded. "Good, this note was found with the picture in the book." The chief gave the note to Velma and she read it out.

"Now that you're here I give you your next clue, it's all very simple, not much to do. My object desired lives in a place where the rivers flow. Many summer's were spent there and only one of you will know. Three small ducklings all in a row eagerly await your show. - Harley."

Xx

"Where am I?" The child asked her again as the woman sat facing her in a backwards chair. "I want to go home!" The woman wasn't listening to the child as she filed her nails to the point that she was bleeding. She was humming to music that wasn't there. Her arms had knife cuts all along them from when she had been bored waiting and decided to cut her arms to see how much she'd bleed. That was around the time the child had awoken and the woman had gone over to her and rested her elbows on the child's legs as the woman had her head in her hands. Which is when the blood had leaked onto the innocent cloth of the night dress.

"You're very special." She had told the child who was much too preoccupied with staring at the unmoving limp body of Ms. Wilson on the other side of the room. "No need to be alarmed by that old thing. She's no one compared to you. Yes, if it weren't for the fact that I'd have to kill you if they lost I'd rather like to train you. Of course then I'd probably wind up killing you anyways." The woman mused to herself as she petted the child's hair.

Now the child was no longer duct taped and Ms. Wilson was given another dose of the drug. The woman stopped filing her fingers and stood in the darkness. She went over to the counter and picked up her tablet of face paints and came over to the child. She kneeled on the floor and dipped her blood stained finger in the white paint. Immediately it stung and she grinned at the tingling pain as she began to paint the terrified girl's face with the white paint. Her blood smeared occasionally onto the child's cheek making the paint pink in some places. She completely covered the girl's face in white before taking some red and painting a small rosy circle on each cheek. The woman reached in her pocket and removed the black lipstick she kept there. She grabbed the child's face forcefully and applied it to the girl's lips. The child was shaking as the woman merely continued her incomprehensible humming. Lastly the woman took the black face paint and added dark circles around the girl's eyes. The woman giggled giddily and stood.

She twirled around the room madly, like a small toddler pretending to be a ballerina. The child starting crying and the woman stopped twirling in front of her. She began laughing insanely at the girl's crying and the make up running down her face. She kissed the child's head and, laughing as she went, she ran up the stairs and into the house above. 


	7. Chapter VI

Blood on the Water

Chapter VI:

"What has the clue got to do with any of you?" The other detective said after the clue had been read out. His partner coughed and he rolled his eyes. "The name's Carlton Lassiter, now let's focus here folks. We have a job to do and there is no time for pleasantries." Karen rolled her eyes and they refocused on the clue. Velma read it out again and it took about five minutes before anyone could make a connection to it at all.

"Like, I think it might be for me..." Shaggy had spoken up after a moment of silent thinking. "I think because he took Maggs, he's trying to get at me." They nodded.

"What can take from it?" Karen asked as she pulled her coat about her tighter. The snow was falling heavily now and they were alone in the parking lot with the exception of the new guard who'd just arrived to protect the book shop and the chief of police who was staying with them until they could get a lead on the new clue.

"I used to go every summer for like, a week to my uncle's house in the countryside by Lake Erie. It's about ten minutes out of town and like, twenty on the highway. I'm not sure if we'll have like, enough time to get there and go someplace else if I'm wrong."

"Well, why do you think we need to be there?" Karen asked while Carlton rolled his eyes.

"The thing says 'three little ducklings all in a row,' I figured he might mean my little sister and two of my cousins watching the plays that my like, older cousin used to make about our mystery solving and I'd always have to be in them." Shaggy told them. Fred put a hand on his shoulder.

"It's the only connection we can make. We don't have time to discuss it." The others nodded and the gang got into the Mystery Machine. The detectives were about to get into their car but the chief held up a hand to stop them.

"Lassiter, Kavet, you're riding with them in their van." Detective Lassiter looked disgusted.

"You want me to ride in that hippy-dippy, drug-induced, beatnik thing he calls a van?" The chief eyed him. "I mean, yes ma'am."

"That's what I thought, Detective. You are to inform me the moment you locate a new clue. Understood?" The detectives nodded and the chief left after they had gotten into the back of the van with Shaggy and Scooby. Lassiter looked gravely annoyed by this. It took them about thirty minutes to get Shaggy's uncle's home. His uncle wasn't home, but where they needed to be wasn't in the house. Shaggy ran around back with the others in tow as he dashed into the dead corn fields. He found was he was looking for in the dead center where a bunch of wooden crates had been pushed together to form a make-shift stage. Three chairs were present and a doll of his sister's had been left on the stage with rope tied around it's neck in the knot of a noose. A note was hanging from it. Detective Lassiter took the note and opened it. A picture fluttered out and he picked it up off the snowy ground.

It was a picture of Margerate and Ms. Wilson still tied to their chairs but a tea table had been set up between them with small china cups and moldy food. The detective read the note. "Diddles to you if you figured out my clue. What I want from you can be found here on this very property. It's nice to see that you've brought friends into the game by the way, the more players the merrier. Detectives are wonderful toys. Now, I want to you take a box for me. You'll find it by the river in the woods. Don't open it, don't question it, just take it. If you do open it, you'll receive a punishment and I will either kill one of my captives or I'll take one of you. Cheating is not allowed. When you take the box deliver it the post office and your task is complete. I give you one extra hour to do this. - Harley."

"Where's this river?" Karen asked Shaggy and he pointed towards the north and into a frozen wasteland of trees. "How far in?"

"Only about a mile." Shaggy said and began leading the way. They got to the river and saw a a cardboard box sitting on a tree stump with bits of snow collecting on it's top. The detectives checked the area first and when it was cleared Lassiter took the box and it was surprisingly light.

"I bet you nothings even in this box." He said grumpily as he carried it out to the van and they began the long drive to the post office. Lassiter told the chief of what they'd found and the chief had both snipers and stake-outs on guard at the post office. They left the box on the post office doorstep and got back in the van and drove to Mystery Incorporated's Headquarters. They set up camp in the living room that night and Fred and Shaggy drew all the curtains closed while the girl's made sure every window and door was securely locked. Scooby slept on the floor beside the sofa where Shaggy was sleeping. The girls, excluding Detective Kavet, shared a sofa as well. Karen and Lassiter set up watch duty times and Karen stayed up first. Lassiter slept in an armchair. Fred settled for putting three dining chairs together. Officer Howard showed up as planned and stayed outside on watch. Karen brought him blankets and a warm mug of coffee while the others slept. It was going to be a long night.

Xx

She watched the snipers with interest. The thought was wonderfully sweet to give her a treat. She slipped onto the roof quietly and crouched to hide beneath the small wall that ran along the top. She prepared her dart gun and she lifted herself just high enough to see the snipers on the roof facing the post office. She blew five straight shots and hit her targets. She then turned and shot five darts into the necks of the snipers on the roof she was currently on. They'd never even heard her. She went over quietly to the other side of the roof and shot the last five snipers on the rooftop to the right side of the post office. She then simply walked down to the first floor of the building and out into the snow. She saw the stake-outs in their car and smiled as she walked past them in the appearance of a civilian. As she passed, she pretended to bump into their car. The second she made contact with the vehicle she placed a miniature homemade bomb. She walked down the street and heard a small explosion and pretended to be shocked as everyone was.

She ran over as many others were but instead went up the post office steps, grabbed the box and left quickly. When she returned home she went down to the basement and opened the freezer. Margerate and Ms. Wilson watched in horror as she took body part after body part out of her freezer and stuffed it into the empty box, humming merrily as a busy mother would when cleaning her home. She sealed the box shut with packing tape and wrote an address out in boxy letters on the front. "To the Coolsville Police Department, with love." She said happily as she finished up. She capped the sharpie and tossed it into the shadows before returning upstairs and placing the box on her doorstep. A neighbor saw and waved to her. The woman waved back happily.

"Got a box going out, Ms. Foreman?" Her neighbor asked. "It'll get wet in the snow, I can take it to the post office while I'm running my errands if you'd like." The woman smiled at her neighbor.

"That would be lovely Mr. Kirk." She handed the box upside down to her neighbor and gave him a twenty for the cost of the post office delivery. "Have a nice day," she said cheerily and the man drove off having no idea what was in the box or his neighbor's basement. The woman had a wicked twinkle in her eye as she went into her bedroom and changed out of her civilian clothes and into a black frock before going downstairs into the basement where she re-drugged Ms. Wilson and chloroformed the child so that they slept for the night. Without another thought she went back upstairs and prepared to go out again to take her third captive. "One, two, Harley's coming for you," she playfully said to herself. "Three, four, lock your doors. Five, six grab your crucifix. Seven, eight, stay up late. Nine, ten, never gonna sleep again..."

**AN: The last bit is a real poem that my friend Erica told me about once. It's supposedly from Nightmare on Elm St, but I made it to fit Harley :) Also, Detective Lassiter is named after Detective Carlton Lassiter from my favorite television series: Psych :) The chief and Karen are spin-offs of two other characters on that show as well XD**


	8. Chapter VII

Blood on the Water

Chapter VII:

Te next morning everyone was up by seven although nothing had happened yet. Shaggy and Scooby made breakfast in the kitchen for the others, including Officer Howard who left soon afterwards to go home for some much needed rest before going into work that afternoon. In fact, nothing happened at all of interest until around nine thirty. They had been waiting patiently, Fred and Lassiter watching the news, Velma reading a book, Daphne shopping around online, and Karen, Shaggy and Scooby playing a game of LIFE at the coffee table, when a knock came on their door. Chief of Police Lauren Lauflen walked in then and laid a claims file on the table over the game of LIFE board. "We just got a call from a distressed woman. She says her elderly father has gone missing and we believe it's the work of the Harlequin. A clown doll was found at the scene of the crime and a note for you." Fred began reaching for the file but the chief held up a hand to stop him. "We also received a package this morning from an anonymous person. It was shipped by the post office but no one had signed for it, it was left on my desk. It contained thirteen pieces of a man we believe to be a missing detective from San Francisco. His name was Thomas Dumosk and he was one of the best the SFPD had ever had. We think that the Harlequin must have called him out and this may be a warning to you about what might happen if you break his rules." They all nodded solemnly. "Now, I had Officer Howard pick up the woman who made the claims call and she should be here in about ten minutes. The details are in the file."

The chief left and Shaggy opened the file. A picture of an older man with white hair and watery, pale eyes was attached to the papers inside. He had a firm square jaw and a tough look about him that suggested he was a war veteran. He had a jagged scar running along his cheek. Shaggy removed the picture out from underneath the paperclip and read out the blank facts on the sheet. "His name was Patrick O'Malley, he was like, sixty-eight years old and a retired professor from Coolsville University. He helped in the Vietnam war." The man's picture was passed around but no one could make a connection to his face or the facts of his life. None of the gang nor the detectives had gone to CU, so he certainly wasn't one of their professor's. A knock sounded on the door and Officer Howard walked in with a surprisingly young woman at hand with him as well as a young girl clutching onto the woman's hand. It was obvious both girl's were shocked deeply and had been crying for quite some time. The young girl had very blond hair that went to her middle back and had blue eyes to match the man's, only her's were still bright with youth. The older girl, whom couldn't be more than fifteen years old had light brown hair and darker brown eyes. She was a little on the short side and she wore square glasses on her face that were sliding slowly down the bridge of her nose. They motioned for the girl's to sit on the vacant sofa and they did, the younger one sitting in the elder's lap.

"Are you Mr. O'Malley's grandchildren?" The older one frowned and shook her head.

"My name's Audrey and this is Lollianna; we're his children." Everyone's eyes went slightly wide at the thought for a moment and Audrey shook her head in annoyance. "Look, we already know our father's sixty-eight years old. So what? He waited until he was fifty-three to start a family, let's move on."

"Like, sorry." Shaggy said sheepishly. "So, when did you notice your... er, dad, was missing?"

"When we woke up and noticed he wasn't there." Audrey was still slightly annoyed at Shaggy. "We found that creepy doll on his bed and the window was left open, it's how he liked to sleep. Snow or not he likes to feel the breeze on him like how it was when he was in the war." Her younger sister cuddled up into a ball on Audrey's lap as the tears began to flow again.

"What about your mother?" Velma asked. "Is she around anywhere?" At that, Lollianna began crying louder into her sister and Velma blushed in regret at having brought up the subject in front of the girl.

"Here, why don't I take her?" Karen asked, holding out a hand towards the small girl. Lollianna reluctantly slipped off of her sister and Daphne accompanied Karen and the girl to the den with a board game. Audrey crossed her arms and glared at Velma.

"For your information, our mother committed suicide when she was twenty-seven, Lolli was a baby and I was nine. Anymore questions to scar my memories forever?"

"Look, kid." Lassiter said angrily. "We're not here to listen to you throw snark. You want us to find your disgusting pervert of a father, then you'll cut the attitude."

"Carlton!" Karen called from the doorway, she'd come in to find a timer for their game and had heard the last part of the conversation. Lassiter sighed and put his hands in his pockets. Karen took a timer from another board game and went back into the den.

"If you're interested to know, there was a letter attached to the doll." Audrey reached into her coat pocket and removed a folded up piece of paper. She unfolded it and handed it to Shaggy before crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at Lassiter. Shaggy cleared his throat and read the letter aloud to them all.

"Like, 'Take a journey into your past, where thieves and cobblers could be friends at last. The swan and the princess merged into one, the teddy bear's tale had only just begun. The goblin stole the girl in the night, a little troll managed to set things right. Have you figured out who I am? If not, I'd suggest you borrow the magic from the snowman.'"

"What the hell does all that mean?" Lassiter was deeply annoyed by now. "This all sounds like fairy tale crap."

"Call the girls in," Fred said, "maybe this clue is for one of them." Velma went into the den to retrieve them and when they came back Fred read the note to them and they stopped to think. Karen especially seemed lost in thought.

"I think..." she started to say, almost unsure of how to continue or whether she should at all, "I think the clue is for me. Those lines all remind me of some out of place movies my parents bought for me. There was one called 'The Thief and the Cobbler,' and they were friends. In 'The Swan Princess,' Odette is cursed and turned into a swan during the day... The goblin stole the girl..." She stopped a moment to think. "I think that's about 'The Princess and the Goblin' when Irene was stolen. As for the troll, the only thing I can think of is 'A Troll in Central Park,' and the thing about the teddy bear had to be about 'The Tangerine Bear.' The last line is directly referring to 'The Magic of the Snowman,' that much I know."

"Well, where do you think our next clue is?" Velma asked. Karen shook her head slowly.

"It said to take a journey into my past... I think we're supposed to watch these movies and find some sort of meaning."

"That's like twelve hours of footage, give or take a few hours." Daphne pointed out.

"Well, it doesn't look like he's giving us a time frame," Fred said as he scanned the letter. "If you've still got the movies, it's worth a try to see them out. I mean, none of us can make a connection to any of it and you did to every single line."

"Do you have a VCR? I have the movies, but they're all on tape." Karen asked and Fred nodded and pointed to the entertainment center. "Alright then, to my mother's house we go."

**AN: I'll be gone for about six days, give or take a day. Sorry '^^**


	9. Chapter VIII

Blood on the Water

Chapter VIII:

They pulled into the drive of Karen's mother's house. Audrey and Lollianna had been taken along when Officer Howard nearly collapsed of sleep exhaustion. Karen explained to her mother why they were there and they went up to Karen's old bedroom. It was very green with blue furniture and very many posters from the 1980's that featured bands like U2 and Blondie or movies like 16 Candles and St. Elmo's Fire. Karen went over to a bookshelf and opened the bottom cabinet and took out six VHS tapes and they hurried back over to Mystery Inc.'s Headquarters. She put the first movie mentioned, 'The Thief and the Cobbler' and Shaggy made them all popcorn and hot chocolate while the commercials played. Once everyone was settled they let the movie play.

It showed a young cobbler named Tack as he met a very unsuccessful thief; oddly neither spoke the entire film as it was narrated by both the cobbler's older self and the thief's present mind. They watched as Tack fell in love with the beautiful Princess Yum-Yum and as Tack and the Thief set out to destroy the evil sorcerer Zig-Zag. In all no one saw any specific meaning in the ninety-one minutes it ran. Karen put 'The Swan Princess' in next and they watched as first a young Prince and Princess were forced to visit one another as children in the hopes of their parents that they would fall in love and then as the evil Rothbart the Sorcerer came back from being banished and killed Princess Odette's father as they were riding home from Prince Derek's castle after Odette refused to marry him. Rothbart kidnapped Odette and charmed her to be a swan by day and a princess by night. When that film ended they put the next one in hoping that it would stick to the theme of evil sorcerers and princesses.

The only thing sticking to the theme with this one, 'The Princess and the Goblin,' was that there was a princess named Irenee, only this time the villains were goblins who planned to take over the mortal world above them by kidnapping the princess so that the king would give up his kingdom for her. The next film was for much younger children and it followed the story of a kind and gentle troll who loved to grow flowers and was banished from the troll world for being too nice. 'The Tangerine Bear' was a Christmas story about a teddy bear whose smile had been sewn on upside down and nobody had wanted to buy him so he was shipped to a second hand store where he was put in the shop window which caused his fur to go from brown to tangerine in color. The last movie was about a young girl on Christmas Eve who was very sick and whose parents were told she would most likely not make it through the night. Her brother in an attempt to cheer her and keep her will to live going told her a story about a place where only children lived and she wouldn't need a wheelchair anymore. The only adult was a magical snowman who became their best friend as they went on a journey together to save the princess's smile from a wicked sorcerer who wanted to enslave the children.

When all of the movies were over they talked for a few moments about what might have been special about them all. When nothing came to a conclusion they all got ready for bed, Shaggy and Scooby sleeping in a sleeping bag on the floor, Fred in the armchair, Carlton on a couch and the girls on the other excluding Karen who took first watch with Officer Howard who was back on duty. The next morning a letter was left for them after Officer Howard had gone. Karen took it gingerly off of the porch and brought it in. They gathered around the dining room table as she read the note aloud. "Dearest players, have you not figured it out by now? Each of those ridiculous movies taught you a lesson one in the same. Look closer and you'll see the powers of the lesson that was taught and you'll know where to go. Hurry, hurry, time is wasting for your friends. I have three captives already. - Harley. P.S. Shame on me, that didn't rhyme."

"Like, what was the lesson?" Shaggy was still in his pajamas and eating a banana with very shaky hands.

"Why don't I take the kids down to the police station while you figure this out?" Officer Howard suggested as he gestured to the sleeping forms of Audrey and Lollianna on the sofa. Fred nodded and Officer Howard picked up Lollianna and gently shook Audrey awake to take them to his squad car. He drove away and the gang went back on topic with the detectives.

"Well let's review my notes," Velma said as she took a notepad out of the desk. "I took them last night in case we'd need them."

"Nice going, Velma." Fred said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Can you see a pattern anywhere?"

"Well, let's see." Velma began flipping through the pages and reading through the notes. She grabbed a pen and circled select notes here and there and when she was finished she capped the pen and tucked it behind her ear. "From what I gather the only connection that can really be made is that each movie ended with the clear message that friendship or love is enough to defeat the darkest of foes. If this is right then our next clue or the end to the task will be somewhere where that message rang true for one of us." Fred nodded slowly.

"There was already a clue at the tree house so I don't think there'll be one there," Daphne said thoughtfully, "and I doubt that there'll be one here either."

"Was there anyplace where something tragic may have happened to one of you?" Karen suggested. "A place where you were all together for it?" The gang thought for a moment through their pasts of broken bones and chasing monsters and getting sick. Shaggy came across a sudden thought, and an awkwardness came over him. He didn't really like to think about this, but it was tragic and they were all together for it when it had happened.

"Like, do you guys remember when we were six and it was it was one of the worst winters we'd ever had?" For a moment no one moved, but Fred nodded solemnly. "We wanted to, like, play outside even though our parents said it was too dangerous. We went out on Lake Erie and we didn't see the signs telling us that it was too thin for ice skaters but Scoob and I had run out there and Velma and Daph were yelling for us to stop but we already so far out. Fred came running after us to pull us back but the ice cracked and he slipped and crashed onto the snow bank and Scoob and I fell through into the lake and you couldn't get us out until my father showed up fifteen minutes later."

"And you and Scoob were unconscious." Fred continued for him. "Every time we tried to grab you guys you just slipped out from under our fingers and when we got you to Coolsville Medical you two were practically blue and you wouldn't move." Daphne shivered.

"You two didn't wake up for four weeks. They told us you were probably going to go to Heaven. It was the scariest moment of our lives." Daphne was chilled to the bone at the recount of that winter.

"And you guys didn't leave my side. When I woke up all of you were there around us. I think... I always thought it was your friendship that made me want to wake up... I still do." Shaggy had small tears coming down his cheeks and Scooby was whining as he pressed his nose against Shaggy's hand. Velma grabbed Shaggy's hand that was closest to her and gave it a gentle squeeze. Fred put a reassuring hand on Shaggy's shoulder and Daphne rubbed Scooby's ears affectionately. They could all tell that today's trip down memory lane wasn't going to be a very easy one if this first one turned out to be right.

Xx

Meanwhile the woman was brushing Maggie's hair roughly with a wooden brush in the basement. The child had tears streaming down her face at how much it hurt when the brush tore through her hair. The woman tossed the brush aside and began pulling the hair this way and that as she braided it. Grinning each time Margaret let out a small whimper of pain. When she was finished she twirled around to the front of the chair and cupped the child's face in her palms. "Such a pretty, pretty girl." She chimed in that satanic melody of a woman's voice. She slapped the child loud enough for the smack to ring out through the room. The child looked with terror at her captive and with shock as she saw an elderly man slumped over in the corner, tied to a pole. He hadn't been there the night before. The woman began refreshing Maggie's clown make-up ferociously and the child closed her eyes to prevent the make-up from stinging them. The middle-aged woman, had her own tears coming down as she watched the child being tortured by the maniacal woman.

When she was done with the make-up the woman took the syringe from the counter and injected it into Maggie's arm and then into Ms. Wilson's. She hoisted herself onto the counter and crossed her legs to sit in Indian position. She picked up her knife and began drawing small patterns of hearts into the skin of her knee, the blood trickling down her leg and onto the counter. She was humming again, as she so very often did. Tonight was going to be a good good night. 


	10. Chapter IX

Blood on the Water

Chapter IX:

It was late in the night and the woman had snuck down to the basement to watch them sleep. She was tired and it was these times in the night that reality would suddenly sink into her. She wasn't crazy all the time, no one truly can be said to be completely either or. Her eyes had gone slightly misty as she sat cross-legged on the floor in front of the child slumped in her chair. She reached out to touch the child's cheek gently, but her hand stalled and she regretfully pulled it back to her person. Memories were floating loosely through her mind only they were in third person, almost as if they weren't even hers. She saw, possibly, herself as a child being shunned by other children at a playground while she wrote ferociously in a little black notebook. Saw herself at home being ignored while her younger siblings were given attention by her parents so she would write more and separate herself from them. Then she saw herself at fourteen, standing with the blood running off of her hands in angry drops of crimson, her father's lifeless body below her. It had been her first kill, but a self-defense one. The butcher knife he had drunkenly tried to run her through with now rested in his chest and her mother lay in a slumped mess by the couch from a drug overdose, barely alive.

The police had to carry her away from the crime scene, place her in the car themselves. She was taken to the police station and then put in an orphanage until she was sixteen when she was adopted by a psychologist and his wife. When she was eighteen she had run away from home to another state, told her adoptive parents that she'd joined a college in upper Ohio but never told them where she was. She bought a small one-bedroom house with the money she'd saved over the years of having summer jobs through high school and allowances. She was determined to make her life as normal as she possibly could after the incident. No one ever knew that she was the 'Colorado Kid' who killed her own parents. In that same year she had married an older man so that she could live in an actual home with heating and space. It was also in that year that she'd done something else, but she could never remember what she had done, just that it had caused her great pain in her head and made her see things that weren't truly there. It had literally driven her up the wall.

Her old nightmares from her childhood and teenage years had flooded back to her and it was then that the thought to kill had come over her. As a child she had loved mysteries, they were her life, what she had striven to be and solve. When a young man named Peter Bauchman had become a well-known detective her urge to challenge and solve and kill surged higher in her mind and she had started the first game. Every day ever since, every year that has passed, she has challenged and killed and every day her thirst for closure and blood had grown to the point that she was as many called her insane. She adopted the title the press had given her as 'The Harlequin,' she became world known as she killed and challenged and killed again. No one has ever resisted her game, she always laid too much on the line. It was only a matter of time when the young ones too would snap.

She sighed and raised herself off of the floor, she kissed the child on the head. She didn't know why but she felt a strong pull to the girl. She immediately spit and cursed herself before grabbing a knife and running upstairs. She sat in the bath and cut small scratches down her legs and the water turned a warm dark crimson. In an hour she made herself go to sleep it wouldn't do to dwell in times long since passed in another lifetime. Now is the time to focus.

Xx

The gang got out the van with the detectives in tow and into the snow. An icy wind rushed against then and Scooby immediately pushed himself against Shaggy in fear of the place itself. In front of them was a frozen lake Erie, the same lake that Shaggy and Scooby had nearly frozen to death in thirteen years ago. Fred put a hand on hand on Shaggy's shoulder and Shaggy gave a small nod. They walked to the edge of the lake and Velma, being the lightest in the group put a pair of ice-skates on and prepared to skate across to see if a note or a clue was anywhere to be found out on the frozen expanse of ice. Before she left, Shaggy grabbed her arm. "Look, Velms, just... please be careful out there." Velma nodded and kissed his cheek before skating out slowly over the lake towards the place where the ice had fallen through that winter.

As she skated out she glanced around her at the barren trees and snowy banks. It always astounded her how an area so full of life can go to a graveyard in less than a month. She shivered and brought her thoughts back to the ice. She skated around a crack in the ice and came to a stop in front of where Scooby and Shaggy had fallen in. A newer sign was staked to the land warning people about thin ice dangers after they had fallen in. She looked down at the ice but didn't see anything right away. She knelt down on her knees and scraped some of the snow away from the surface of the ice hoping a note might be there, but there wasn't one to be found. She looked closer though at the ice. She could of sworn she saw something white move beneath the surface. As she leaned even closer though, a loud crack was heard and she fell through the ice suddenly and into the ice water. She felt something grab her and drag her under farther but the water was so dark she couldn't see a thing.

The rest ran out, slipping and sliding on the ice to where she had been kneeling only seconds ago. Shaggy was shouting and pushing others out of the way, but it was useless. By the time they had gotten to the opening in the ice, Velma was no where to be seen. Lassiter swore under his breath and radioed in to the chief letting her know what just happened. In about half an hour a team of divers and policemen had arrived on scene at the ice and the divers went down into the water. When they came back up after about an hour, the verdict was clear. Velma was gone.

**AN: I am so sorry it took me this long to update '^^ I had the first week of school and I was so tired after coming home! Anyways, I thought Harley deserved some insight to her past :) **


	11. Chapter X

Blood on the Water

Chapter X:

They sat in the chief's office together in silence. Shaggy had his head in his hands and the tears were refusing to stop. It was all his fault in his mind, all of it. If he hadn't suggested they go to the ice, they never would have lost her in it. Fred was busy trying to stay strong for the lot of them as he spoke to the chief about what had happened and when. The two detectives were filling out paperwork for Velma's disappearance in silence at Carlton's desk. Daphne was in tears as well and trying desperately to avoid looking anyone in the eye. Scooby was whimpering at Shaggy's feet and mourning his friend. The chief cleared her throat and all attention was on her. "Mr. Jones, can I ask you to please go gather my detectives I've assigned on the case and bring them here?" Fred nodded and left the office to get Detective Lassiter and Detective Kavet. "As for you, Mr. Rogers, I'm sorry for the loss of your friend, we're doing everything we can to locate her, but it's our belief this is something to deal with our murderer." Fred arrived back with the detectives just in time to hear Shaggy speak.

"It's all my fault, Chief." Shaggy said as he pulled at his hair with his fingers in sad frustration. "It was my memory, I should have gone out there, not her. Never her." Fred put a gentle hand on Shaggy's shoulder and bowed his head at his friends words.

"Mr. Rogers, it was the only way to go about it. Unfortunately, your friend was the lightest of your group on two legs, we had to send her out there. If we had known that she was going to go under the ice, we wouldn't have made that decision." The chief told him. "We will get her back, it's about time we've caught this sick bastard."

"Chief," Lassiter said, "what was on the paper found in the water? Anything legible?"

"Our crime lab is working that out, it was legible all right, but it was crypted. He's upping the anti now that he has one of your friends. I have no doubt he'll kill her first if you fail a task now." At that moment a knock rang on the door and the chief nodded her approval for entry. A middle-aged man came in with a clip-board.

"Chief, we just finished our analysis on the paper found in Lake Erie."

"So quickly?" The chief said astonished.

"Well, not quite." The man said nervously. "We've figured out what each symbol means in the alphabet and the number spectrum, but it doesn't make heads nor tails of sense." He flipped a page on the clipboard and held it out for the chief to see. "If you look here, it clearly has written '.Ecir peh tyap rowon emdni femoc. Er auoy ere ht3 21paer lla hsIdae dehtfo sluos 3 eca epdna sniahc hto bfodl rowani evi li2 ogr evenl l'voy dna emo hemw ollof tub, osem evolod ner dlih c1 htur tmo rfgn orw refi ced ot bojruoy s'ti seulcee rht uo yevI godI tseu qruo yniuoy plehot gni maerd lliwI kaer bsth gilyad taro fepoh ll aesol rotsaf deg nahc maI thgin ehtni raefno evirhtI yll ufhtu rtt ub reeh cym daer psdna srehto ote vigI tnIa sarae ppao dylu rtI.'

"Like I said, it doesn't make heads nor tails, Chief."

"Let me see that," Daphne spoke up. "Just for a second." The man nodded and gave the clipboard to Daphne. Daphne dug around in her purse for a moment until she came up with a compact.

"Daph, I don't think now is the time to be messing around with your make-up." Fred pointed out to her, but Daphne ignored him and flipped the compact open to see the mirror inside. She angled the mirror so that she could see the the words on the paper reflected into the surface of the mirror.

"Chief, do you happen to have a pen and some paper I may borrow?" The chief nodded and handed a notepad and a pen to Daphne.

"Miss Blake, are you onto something?" The chief asked but Daphne only remained silent as she scribbled line after line onto a piece of paper. Ten minutes later and Daphne shut the mirror and slid it back into her purse. She held up the paper and the man looked it over incredulously.

"Of course!" He said in excitement. "It was printed from the bottom up, scrambled and written backwards. I can't believe all I needed was a mirror!"

"Daph, how did you figure that out?" Shaggy said, standing from his seat suddenly and looking over the man's shoulder at the page of neat writing.

"I'm not just a pretty face, you know." She said as she flipped her hair over her shoulder. Shaggy blushed.

"Like, can you read that out for everybody?" He asked the man. The man nodded and cleared his throat.

"I truly do appear a saint, I give to others and spread my cheer, But truthfully I thrive on fear. In the night I am changed, From angel to a demon. Find me fast or lose all hope, For at daylights break I will be dreaming. To help you in your quest, I do give you three clues. It's your job to decipher wrong from truth. 1. Children do love me so, but follow me home and you'll never go. 2. I live in a world of both chains and peace. 3. Souls of the dead I shall reap. 1, 2, 3, there you are. Come find me now or pay the price."

**AN: I know, it's a short chapter and I haven't updated in eight days but I am working on that guys ^^ So good chapter, yes, no?**


	12. Chapter XI

Blood on the Water

Chapter XI:

"What could any of that mean?" Fred asked as he poured over the translation. "Can any of you make a connection?" He looked back and forth between the faces that filled the office. They were all gaunt with sleep exhaustion and blackened with reality's subtle conclusions that have wracked them the previous few days, but none held a hint of a connection to the words. At that moment Officer Howard came in the room, Audrey and Lolly close behind him. The chief looked at the children surprisingly, she hadn't expected to see them today. She looked to Officer Howard for an explanation.

"The girls have no family in or around Coolsville. They say they only ever knew their father." The chief nodded at the officer's words. "I figured it best to keep them at the station now that they have a connection with Harley." Again the chief nodded.

"Take the girls to the interrogation rooms below, there they'll be securely locked and below ground level." The chief gave her command. Officer Howard was on his way out when Daphne suddenly got an idea into her head.

"Officer, wait!" Officer Howard stopped and both he and the girls turned back to face Daphne. "I want them to read the clue. Maybe their father was kidnapped for a reason, a reason that maybe involves them." Everyone went quite. Audrey obtained a skeptical look and seemed to be glaring at Daphne while resting a protective hand on her young sister's shoulder. Her young brown eyes piercing through Daphne's clear green ones with as much aggression as a glare could brave. A scowl of discontent spread over her lips. _Well, aren't you just the sweetest angel that ever lived... _Daphne thought to herself before shaking off the glare and continuing on with her point. "I just want her to read it. It's worth a shot to save someone's life. I mean, for all we know we could be running on a clock again." Audrey took and angry step forward, making a point of slamming her foot as it landed, and ripped the paper out of Fred's hand.

Her eyes darted back and forth across the page as she read the lined out clues. After a moment she looked up, the glare still very much apparent in her gaze as she bored her eyes into Daphne's once more. "The only thing I can think of means nothing." She said and turned to lead Lolly out the door. Officer Howard grabbed her arm and steered her back into the room, an eminent sigh resounding out of frustration. "Look, the only thing I can think of is about a guy who's already in prison in a high-security vault. He was arrested in 1960, I doubt he's still alive."

"Go on," the chief said, "tell us more." Audrey sighed again and crossed her arms in annoyance.

"His name was Harlan Dumphree. For a long time before his arrest he was a perfect member of society in everyone's eyes. He coached little league, he bought twenty boxes of girl-scout cookies, volunteered at the animal shelter; you name the good deed, he did it. But then some kids started showing up dead in weird places and for about eight years the crimes went unsolved. Then one day one of his own children went missing and was found strangled to death in a bog miles away. Everyone knew that the girl hadn't been seen for days before that, but no one wanted to suspect Harlan so it slid by for another year until his wife died suspiciously and they did some tests on her. They found out she was poisoned, questioned Harlan and he confessed. They placed him in solitary and no one saw him again. He was already, like, thirty-six years old by then, though. He's long dead by now."

"With his name being Harlan, it can't just be a coincidence." Fred said. "Where's the prison he was last kept in?" Audrey shrugged her shoulders and the chief sent Officer Howard to go research the police databases for info on Harlan Dumphree.

"As for you, Ms. O'Malley," the Chief said to Audrey as Officer Howard made his way out, "I'll be escorting yourself and your sister to the interrogation rooms myself." Audrey rolled her eyes but followed the chief regardless down into the basement of the precinct. It was going to be a long day. ****


End file.
